New Steve Feffer Play in Chicago at the Ruckus Theatre

Steve Feffer's new play, "My Brother, the School Shooter," a short play inspired by the Pearl Jam song "Jeremy" is currently running as part of Ruckus Theatre's Tell It & Speak It & Think It & Breathe It project. Feffer's play tells the story of a young woman who confronts her North Shore Chicago parents about leaving home following her brother's attempt at shooting-up the high school they had previously attended together. The title of the play comes from the college admission's essay the girl, the school's valedictorian, grimly imagines herself writing.

The Ruckus, a new Chicago theatre company primarily composed of former WMU students who met during the first two New Play Projects, calls Tell It & Speak It & Think It & Breathe It a world premiere theatrical mixtape. Co-curated by The Ruckus Artistic Director Allison Shoemaker, Literary Manager Mitch Vermeersch and Artistic Associate Melissa Pryor (all WMU and New Play Project alums) and made up of bold new work from writers across the country, Tell It… is a collection of fourteen world premiere short plays staged by eleven directors with eighteen actors that find new and unexpected meaning in the lyrics of popular music. The company also uncovers common resonances between songs and the plays they inspire, seeking out the relationships between them sonically, lyrically and visually. Tell It… features accompanying live performances from local musicians, including Elvisbride, Louis and the Hunt and Mitch Mead, each providing their own interpretations of the songs examined. Tell It & Speak It & Think It & Breathe It is performed at The Side Project Theatre, October 25 – 28 & November 1 – 4, 2009. All performances are at 7:30pm, except November 1 at 2pm. Tickets are $10 and may be purchased online at RuckusTheater.org, by e-mail at tickets@ruckustheater.org or by phone at 773.769.RCKS(7257).

A compilation of short “pl-ongs” or “s-lays” by theater artists from Chicago, New York, California and Michigan, Tell It… includes work my nine playwrights making their Chicago debuts and four playwrights making their world debuts. Over the course of the evening, audiences will experience work inspired by The Breeders, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, Elvis Costello, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Bob Dylan, The Flaming Lips, Fleet Foxes, Paris Hilton, Hot Chip, Joni Mitchell, Neutral Milk Hotel, The New Pornographers, Yoko Ono, Parliament, Peaches, Pearl Jam, John Rutter, Paul Simon, Sir Mix-a-Lot, Cat Stevens, System of a Down, The White Stripes and Thom Yorke.